Page 19 - Christie's Fine Chinese Qianlong's Bronze Auction September 13, 2018

tradition transformed

a western zhou legged gui vessel

師古汲新-西周四足簋

part from its bold decoration and fne patination, this magnifcent 此青銅簋 (食器) 端凝大氣，紋飾寫意灑脫，鏽色蒼
bronze gui 簋 food-serving vessel is art-historically important for its 翠喜人，且在傳統簋的樣式上添加四足，是藝術史
Areinterpretation of the traditional gui form through the addition of 上繼往開來之作。綜而觀之，此器應屬西周初至中
four legs. As such, it joins a small handful of other legged gui vessels that were 葉一批寥寥可數的有足簋。
produced in the early and middle Western Zhou periods (西周早期, 西周中期).
簋乃盛放煮熟的黍、稷、稻、粱等糧食之容器，本青
A vessel for serving cooked millet, sorghum, rice, or other grains, this bronze gui
銅簋採用傳統的圓體樣式，底承四蹄足。器身呈S
comprises a traditional, circular gui form resting on four legs, each in the form of
曲線，口微撇，束頸，鼓腹略扁，下承四長足，使簋
a hoofed animal leg. With its S-curved profle, the container portion of the vessel
has a lightly faring lip, a constricted neck, and a lightly compressed globular bowl 身舉高，四足上截與圈足平行相連。器足上方飾饕
set on a circular footring. Attached to and overlapping the footring, four long 餮獸面紋，下若獸足，底作蹄形，器足中段微凸，狀
legs descend to elevate the vessel. The top of each leg suggests an animal head 若膝蓋。頸側各飾一立耳，作獸首啣環狀，下端連接
in the form of a half-taotie mask 饕餮紋, while the shaft of each resembles an 簋底，其曲線與鼓腹呼應。器表紋飾可明確區分為
animal leg with a hoof at the bottom and a bulge at the middle representing a
三段，間以細窄的光素帶。鼓腹的主紋飾帶以方格
knee. Issuing from a stylized animal head on either side of the vessel’s neck, two
乳釘雷紋為題，上下各飾一道細窄聯珠紋，器頸與
opposed, vertically oriented, loop handles reconnect to the vessel at the bottom
圈足均飾三層獸面紋，居中雙眼狹長，上沿飾翮狀
of the bowl, their curvature echoing the bowl’s full, bulging form. The bowl’s
surfaces are divided into three clearly articulated decorative registers effectively 紋。頸部三層獸面紋飾帶內，尚有一對生趣盎然的
separated by narrow, unembellished bands. Bordered top and bottom by a thin 寫實有角羊首，恰好位於雙耳之間。器頸的羊首及
band of small rings, the principal decorative register, around the bowl’s bulging 主紋飾帶的乳釘，均立體如高浮雕，但器足的抽象
belly, features a diamond-and-boss pattern 方格的乳釘雷紋, while the registers 紋飾乃陰刻而成。
around neck and footring sport so-called “animal triple bands”, which are
centered on pairs of large rectangular eyes and lined by quills along the upper 時至商代，中國的青銅鑄造已自成體系，許多喪葬
edges. A pair of naturalistic, horned ram’s heads enlivens the animal triple band 儀式用的彝器應運而生。除了盛水用的器皿，這些
around the neck, each head rising in relief and appearing a quarter turn from the 作品中最常見的是食器和酒器，其下還可細分為貯
handles. Unlike the ram’s heads at the neck and the bosses 乳釘 in the principal 存、盛放、加熱、炊煮、飲食之器。簋用於盛放熟食
register, which rise in relief, the abstract decoration on the vessel legs appears in
類供品，最早見於商代 (約公元前1600至1030年)，
intaglio lines.
周代 (公元前1030至256年) 仍製作不斷。
Bronze casting came fully into its own in China during the Shang dynasty
商朝 with the production of sacral vessels intended for use in funerary
ceremonies. Those vessels include ones for food and wine as well as ones for
water; those for food and wine, the types most frequently encountered, group
themselves into storage and presentation vessels as well as heating, cooking, and
serving vessels. A sacral vessel for serving offerings of cooked food, the gui frst
appeared during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BC–c. 1030 BC) and continued well
into the Zhou 周朝 (c. 1030 BC- 256 BC).

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